For HR leaders, the concept of employee experience (EX) is always top-of-mind, but with today’s employees quitting and changing their jobs at record-high rates, it’s become more apparent than ever that the employee experience matters.

Studies show that 90% of organizations with transformative EX are more likely to report lower annual turnover than industry peers. And the opposite is also true: a negative employee experience drives talent out the door.

Similar to other HR functions, the nature of working with people is dynamic and subject to change depending on the wants and needs of employees of a specific generation, industry or even individual company. This means that EX strategies which may have been sufficient for meeting employee expectations a few years ago are entirely outdated now. 

Let’s discuss best practices for EX for the modern workplace, covering recruitment through to exit.  

Before we dive into strategy, let’s begin with a quick refresher on the meaning of employee experience:

Employee experience refers to an employee’s perceptions about their journey with a company based on their experiences throughout the process. This can include anything — a simple, seamless job application process, a printer that’s always broken when you need it, an annual birthday cupcake from a manager or an insurance portal that requires three logins. All of these experiences set the tone for how an employee views their job and contribute to their sense of satisfaction, happiness and engagement. 

EX can be influenced by interactions within every space of an organization, including these areas:

EX can also impact other aspects of organizational operation, such as customer experience. Employees with positive EX tend to report greater happiness and satisfaction with their jobs. And when an employee likes their job, it spills over in their interactions with customers.

Though day-to-day experiences inform EX, milestone events or periods of transition and growth usually have the greatest influence over an employee’s perceptions of their job. These touchpoints offer vital opportunities for shaping and enhancing employees’ views of your company.

An effective EX strategy requires aligning your efforts to hit all of these critical touchpoints across the employee life cycle. Let's break this down piece by piece.

The employee experience starts before someone is even hired. This includes all stages in the hiring process from applying to interviewing and negotiating a final offer.

Work with your recruitment team to improve the employee experience at this stage by:

Onboarding is a formative period of time that can set the stage for how your organization is perceived for the duration of an employee’s tenure. An elevated EX at this stage involves:

The opportunity for continuous development speaks to your company’s willingness to invest in its people. Review these best practices to see if they’re currently in use with your program:

Retention represents another ongoing aspect of the employee life cycle and experience. Once an employee has been fully integrated into the organization, it’s typically in your company’s best interest to continue cultivating and engaging them to stay. 

There are many retention strategies, but when you’re looking at retention through the lens of employee experience, these tactics are a good place to start: 

Whether an employee is retiring, leaving for another opportunity or simply moving to a new department, the departure invites an opportunity to solicit candid feedback regarding all aspects of their experience working at your company. Make the offboarding experience seamless and part ways amicably. This last interaction influences how that employee views their time at your company, and they can promote your org to future potential employees. 

A positive EX has a ripple effect through an organization, boosting engagement, profits, retention and satisfaction for employees and customers alike. Not keeping your finger on the pulse of EX is a costly proposition and can affect your bottom line substantially. At the same time, it can feel overwhelming to try to improve EX across the full employment life cycle. Especially when you don’t quite know what needs to be fixed.

For a more manageable approach, consider surveying employees to determine their biggest pain points in their journey. You may see large, systemic issues that require substantial investment and overhaul, but many companies are surprised to learn of the many small, easy fixes that can make sure a difference to employees’ quality of life. In either case, there’s always room for improvement with an EX program, and change is not always hard. 

As you build your strategy, look to past programs to see what’s worked best and tap leaders who can help you spearhead improvements across the organization, offering them clear goals, autonomy for quick decisions and the resources they need to solve the issues. 

Read more: Fostering a diverse workforce is a major driver of employee experience. Discover how to better retain and develop underrepresented talent within your organization.